Get Our Newsletter

First Salsa Making Experience

**This is a little old, in fact I made the salsas over 6 months ago but never got around to posting the results. Either way, ENJOY!

Okay, so I know what makes a good salsa, but I’ve never made a good salsa. I’ve never made any salsa for that matter. So, armed with our new food processor and several salsa specific cookbooks, I was off on a mission. I spent 2 weeks reading and researching recipes and settled on not one, but 2 recipes to break into the salsa making world. I picked out a variety – the standard pico style hot sauce and a tomatillo based sauce.

Basic Salsa Recipe:

3 Med Tomatoes, diced. If necessary, drain

1 clove garlic, crushed

1/2 med red onion, diced

1/2 tsp crushed dried oregano

2 fresh jalapenos, seeded and diced

Salt & Pepper to taste

Steps:
Dice everything up, drain the tomatoes, combine in a bowl and let set for a day or two. The longer you let the flavors blend the better the salsa turns out.

Tomatillo Salsa(Can’t remeber the exact recipe)

Tomatillos

Red Onion

Poblano Chiles

Cilantro

Garlic

Steps:
Remove the husks from the tomatillos, then toss all the veggies on the grill. Cut the tomatillos in half before adding to the food processor and remove the seeds from the pepper. Run through the food processor, add some lime juice to taste and let set for a few hours.

Verdict: I wasn’t thrilled by the Tomatillo salsa, not nearly enough heat and the basic salsa recipe was a little too tomato-y for my tastes, but the wife loved it. After letting both the salsas sit for a day the flavors really blended together and each of the salsas became that much better. I’ll definately be making some more salsa again soon…

0 Comments

In Texas we would call that first one Pico de Gallo. OK … I just read the line where you said “pico-style.” The tomatillo looks. I roast mine under the broiler. Gets it nice and soft and it tastes great!

My Hubby makes excellent Salsa that’s the hit of the super bowl party every year. He uses a combo of chilies like jalapenos and sorranos. I know it sounds strange but he also puts in cucumbers and black olives – very yummy. You might want to try some Roma Tomatoes as well as they are very firm and meaty

Suggestions (refined by trial-and-error, and based on several recipes I can’t take credit for):

1. Soak the onions in lime juice at least while you are preparing the peppers; longer (several hours to overnight) if you’re not in a rush. Add cilantro and the peppers to that, soak some more, then add everything else.

2. Although at least one recipe calls for roasting, peeling, and seeding the peppers, usually I just cut the tops off and chop ’em up in the food processor; the seeds make it hotter, so you can take out some or all or none, according to taste. Leaving the skins on makes it seem fresher and crunchier, if you like that kind of thing.

3. Use serrano peppers instead of, or in addition to, the jalapenos.

4. To make fresh habaneros easier to handle and measure into the recipe, I cut them, rinse out some seeds, and put them in a blender with some tomato juice, V8 juice, vinegar. or the juice from canned tomatoes (see below). Then you can add that mixture a little at a time at the end, and not overshoot your target (not everyone I make salsa for can handle the max habanero effect). Disposable vinyl gloves are handy, or wash your hands frequently while dealing with the habaneros.

5. My latest trick is to add canned chipotles, chopped coarsely in the food processor. These shouldn’t be the only peppers in the salsa, but on the other hand, if I don’t have any decent salsa in the house, or time to make it, I open a can, chop them up and use that for chips, etc.

As you can see, sometimes I end up with jalapenos, serranos, habaneros, and chipotles all in the salsa. Sometimes I even mix in canned fire-roasted tomatoes with fresh tomatoes. No matter the variation, making it yourself beats almost anything I can get in New England!

can you help me find a recipe for cowboy candy—made with jalapeno peppers . I rec’d a jar of these from a friend who was visiting in Texas . Looks like the ingredients are peppers. sigar, tumeric, mustard seed(maybe). The only thing listed on the jar was “hot mama’s cowboy candy. Thanking you in advance.

How to make Salsa
Place garlic, tomatoes and chiles into a blender or food processor and blend to a chunky (not smooth) sauce.
Heat the oil in a heavy frying pan, add the onion and cook until it becomes translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the blended ingredients and cook over high heat until reduced by about half. Remove from heat, add cilantro and salt and pepper to taste. Makes: 2-3 cups

For a New Mexican Salsa replace the jalepeno or serrano chilis with green chilis and cut the cilantro to 1/4 cup.

Hint: Prepare Salsa dip a day ahead and store in the refrigerator. This gives the flavors a chance to “mingle”.